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    Downtown Vancouver
    Downtown Vancouver
    Downtown Vancouver
    Ebook184 pages1 hour

    Downtown Vancouver

    By Pat Jollota

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    About this ebook

    Named for a British sea explorer, Vancouver was conceived in the early 1800s when Lewis and Clark camped at the waterfront and deemed the area ripe for settlement. The Hudson’s Bay Company soon established its fur-trading empire here, and “Fort Vancouver” became the commercial center of the area. In 1849 American troops set up Columbia Barracks nearby, establishing the area as a military stronghold. In 1857 the city of Vancouver was incorporated, and gradually became an important industrial and residential city. Vancouver is now a big city, and along with nearby Portland, Oregon, is home to high-tech, maritime, lumber, and manufacturing industries.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateNov 10, 2004
    ISBN9781439614358
    Downtown Vancouver
    Author

    Pat Jollota

    Pat Jollota came to Vancouver, Washington, in 1982 from Los Angeles, where she had spent twenty-two years as a civilian employee of the Los Angeles Police Department. Her late husband was a sergeant at that department. She was elected to the Vancouver City Council and served there for twenty years. She was named a First Citizen of Clark County in 2012. She has published two books for the Clark County Historical Society, as well as four volumes for Arcadia Publishing.

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      Book preview

      Downtown Vancouver - Pat Jollota

      well.

      INTRODUCTION

      Vancouver, Washington, sprawls along the Columbia River for over 10 miles, and across the river lies Portland, Oregon, rather like a younger brother grown taller and heavier. The river shapes both cities. Indeed, without it, neither city would exist.

      For hundreds of years, thousands of Chinooks dwelt in villages along the river. The climate was mild; the river provided abundant food. Wild plants and berries added to their daily fare.

      They were the ultimate traders. Wealth brought prestige, and the richest became the chiefs, rather like our own society today. They, however, did not believe that a good war chief made a good chief in peacetime. When they had gathered enough goods, they would have a party and give it all away. That was the famous potlatch.

      The salmon was an important part not only of their diet, but of their world. They believed that the salmon were a race of people from the sea who could change their form. They observed that the migrating salmon’s bodies would change as their color turned to red. They believed that these people came up the river each year to test the Chinook.

      The first salmon was treated with reverence, carried to the village for all to share. The fish was cut lengthwise, never across, and consumed with prayer and ceremony. Anything uneaten was returned to the river and laid in the water headed toward the sea. The salmon would then tell his people that he had been treated with respect and they would return the following year. If he had not been so treated, the salmon would not return.

      Today the Propstra clock tower in Esther Short Park celebrates this story with sculptures of salmon and a glockenspiel. Between the ancient legend and today’s park lie the stories in this book.

      Two decades before the Oregon Trail, Fort Vancouver was an outpost of European settlement. It drew traders and tradesmen of many races, nationalities, and languages. The Hudson’s Bay Company had no interest in settling. They were here to do business, and their relationship with the Chinooks was a natural one. Both groups were interested in making a profit.

      As the Oregon Trail began in the middle of the 19th century, the fort became a destination for weary immigrants. Here they could rest and replenish their stores. As the British believed that the Columbia River was a natural boundary between the interests of the United States and that of England, they encouraged the settlers to head south, into the Willamette Valley.

      But some stayed, setting out land claims along the river and in the fertile plains to the north. There were disagreements between the Yanks and the Brits, of course, but in the main it was a business relationship. In 1846 the treaty was signed making us American. It was time for the Army to arrive, but they were involved in the unpleasantness known as the Mexican war at the time, so it took them awhile to arrive.

      With the introduction of the Army, people felt secure enough to settle and continue building the town. Downtown was settled by folks willing to take a chance. Land titles were in doubt for over 50 years due to overlapping land claims.

      Transportation was the big issue that kept Vancouver from growing in the early years. The river that gave us life became a barrier. It silted up and cut off the wharf from the main channel. Portland began to grow, but Vancouver was isolated. The railroad came in south of the river, and it would not be until the 20th century that the railroad spanned the river. Not until World War I was the river dredged to Vancouver. Ferryboats operated until 1917 when the Interstate Bridge was built.

      Today, Vancouver finds itself in an ideal location for growth. We stand athwart two major highways, along a mighty river. A major airport lies just across the bridge. The growth has been nothing short of phenomenal. The little settlement of the frontier has grown to a city of over 150,000 souls, and the end is not yet in sight.

      One

      THE EARLY EXPLORERS

      Chinook infants were bound onto boards and then another board was tied over the forehead for several months. The result would be a flattening and broadening of the head, making a straight line from the nose to the crown. This was considered a mark of beauty and status. (Painting by Paul Kane.)

      The Chinook watched a curious event in November 1792: a longboat rowed by sweating British sailors making its way up the river. Capt. William Broughton had been sent by Capt. George Vancouver to explore and name the land for king and country.

      Apparently an American, Robert Gray, had just made his way into the river and named it for his ship, the Columbia Rediviva, giving the United States a claim on the land. When Captain Vancouver heard of Gray’s exploit, he immediately headed for the river in a sort of cover your aft move. His ship, the Discovery, was too large to pass over the bar. Several times they tried, inching forward, taking readings, falling back. At last he sent William Broughton in the Chatham. Distrusting the braided river, Broughton left the Chatham and proceeded in the longboat.

      Broughton rowed to a place about seven miles above the

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